diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Master/texmf-doc/doc/english/impatient/preface.tex')
-rw-r--r-- | Master/texmf-doc/doc/english/impatient/preface.tex | 157 |
1 files changed, 157 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Master/texmf-doc/doc/english/impatient/preface.tex b/Master/texmf-doc/doc/english/impatient/preface.tex new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..b48193d749a --- /dev/null +++ b/Master/texmf-doc/doc/english/impatient/preface.tex @@ -0,0 +1,157 @@ +% This is part of the book TeX for the Impatient. +% Copyright (C) 2003 Paul W. Abrahams, Kathryn A. Hargreaves, Karl Berry. +% See file fdl.tex for copying conditions. + +\input macros +\frontchapter{Preface} + +{\tighten +Donald Knuth's \TeX, a computerized typesetting system, +provides nearly everything +needed for high-quality typesetting of mathematical +notations as well as of ordinary text. +It is particularly notable for its flexibility, its superb hyphenation, and its +ability to choose aesthetically satisfying line breaks. +Because +of its extraordinary capabilities, \TeX\ has become the leading typesetting +system for mathematics, science, and engineering and has been adopted as +a standard by the American Mathematical Society. A companion program, +^{\Metafont}, +can construct arbitrary letterforms including, in particular, any symbols that +might be needed in mathematics. +Both \TeX\ and \Metafont\ are widely available within the +scientific and engineering community and have been implemented on a +variety of computers. +\TeX\ isn't perfect---it lacks integrated support for graphics, and +some effects such as ^{revision bars} are very difficult to produce---% +but these drawbacks are far outweighed by its advantages. +\par} + +\thisbook\/ is intended to serve scientists, mathematicians, and +technical typists for whom \TeX\ is a useful tool rather than a primary +interest, as well as computer people who have a strong interest in \TeX\ +for its own sake. We also intend it to serve both newcomers to \TeX\ +and those who are already familiar with \TeX. We assume that our +readers are comfortable working with computers and that they want to get +the information they need as quickly as possible. Our aim is to provide +that information clearly, concisely, and accessibly. + +{\tighten This book therefore provides a bright searchlight, a stout +walking-stick, and detailed maps for exploring and using \TeX. It will +enable you to master \TeX\ at a rapid pace through inquiry and +experiment, but it will not lead you by the hand through the entire +\TeX\ system. Our approach is to provide you with a handbook for \TeX\ +that makes it easy for you to retrieve whatever information you need. +We explain both the full repertoire of \TeX\ commands and the concepts +that underlie them. You won't have to waste your time plowing through +material that you neither need nor want. \par} + +In the early sections we also provide you with enough orientation so +that you can get started if you haven't used \TeX\ before. We assume +that you have access to a \TeX\ implementation and that you know how to +use a text editor, but we don't assume much else about your background. +Because this book is organized for ready reference, you'll continue to +find it useful as you become more familiar with \TeX. If you prefer to +start with a carefully guided tour, we recommend that you first read +Knuth's ^{\texbook} (see \xrefpg{resources} for a citation), passing +over the ``dangerous bend'' sections, and then return to this book for +additional information and for reference as you start to use \TeX. (The +dangerous bend sections of \texbook\ cover advanced topics.) + +The structure of \TeX\ is really quite simple: a \TeX\ input document +consists of ordinary text interspersed with commands that give \TeX\ +further instructions on how to typeset your document. Things like math +formulas contain many such commands, while expository text contains +relatively few of them. + +The time-consuming part of learning \TeX\ is learning the commands and +the concepts underlying their descriptions. Thus we've devoted most of +the book to defining and explaining the commands and the concepts. +We've also provided examples showing \TeX\ typeset output and the +corresponding input, hints on solving common problems, information about +error messages, and so forth. We've supplied extensive cross-references +by page number and a complete index. + +We've arranged the descriptions of the commands so that you can look +them up either by function or alphabetically. The functional +arrangement is what you need when you know what you want to do but you +don't know what command might do it for you. The alphabetical arrangement +is what you need when you know the name of a command but you don't know exactly +what it does. + +We must caution you that we haven't tried to provide a complete +definition of \TeX. For that you'll need ^{\texbook}, which is the +original source of information on \TeX. \texbook\ also contains a lot +of information about the fine points of using \TeX, particularly on the +subject of composing math formulas. We recommend it highly. + +In 1989 Knuth made a major revision to \TeX\ in order to adapt it to +$8$-bit character sets, needed to support typesetting for languages +other than English. The description of \TeX\ in this book incorporates +that revision (see \xref{newtex}). + +{\tighten You may be using a specialized form of \TeX\ such as ^{\LaTeX} +or ^{\AMSTeX} (see \xref{resources}). Although these specialized forms +are self-contained, you may still want to use some of the facilities of +\TeX\ itself now and then in order to gain the finer control that only +\TeX\ can provide. This book can help you to learn what you need to +know about those facilities without having to learn about a lot of other +things that you aren't interested~in. \par} + +Two of us (K.A.H. and K.B.) were generously supported by the +University of Massachusetts at Boston during the preparation of this +book. In particular, Rick Martin kept the machines running, and +Robert~A. Morris and Betty O'Neil made the machines available. Paul +English of Interleaf helped us produce proofs for a cover design. + +We wish to thank the reviewers of our book: Richard Furuta of the +University of Maryland, John Gourlay of Arbortext, Inc., Jill Carter +Knuth, and Richard Rubinstein of the Digital Equipment Corporation. We +took to heart their perceptive and unsparing criticisms of the original +manuscript, and the book has benefitted greatly from their insights. + +We are particularly grateful to our editor, Peter Gordon of +Addison-Wesley. This book was really his idea, and throughout its +development he has been a source of encouragement and valuable +advice. We thank his assistant at Addison-Wesley, Helen Goldstein, for +her help in so many ways, and Loren Stevens of Addison-Wesley for her +skill and energy in shepherding this book through the production +process. Were it not for our copyeditor, Janice Byer, a number of small +but irritating errors would have remained in this book. We appreciate +her sensitivity and taste in correcting what needed to be corrected +while leaving what did not need to be corrected alone. Finally, we wish +to thank Jim Byrnes of Prometheus Inc. for making this collaboration +possible by introducing us to each other. +\vskip1.5\baselineskip + +\line{\it Deerfield, Massachusetts\hfil\rm P.\thinspace W.\thinspace A.} +\line{\it Manomet, Massachusetts\hfil\rm K.\thinspace A.\thinspace H., + K.\thinspace B.} + +\vskip2\baselineskip + +\noindent {\bf Preface to the free edition:} This book was originally +published in 1990 by Addison-Wesley. In 2003, it was declared out of +print and Addison-Wesley generously reverted all rights to us, the +authors. We decided to make the book available in source form, under +the GNU Free Documentation License, as our way of supporting the +community which supported the book in the first place. See the +copyright page for more information on the licensing. + +The illustrations which were part of the original book are not included +here. Some of the fonts have also been changed; now, only +freely-available fonts are used. We left the cropmarks and galley +information on the pages, to serve as identification. An old version of +Eplain was used to produce it; see the {\tt eplain.tex} file for +details. + +We don't plan to make any further changes or additions to the book +ourselves, except for correction of any outright errors reported to us, +and perhaps inclusion of the illustrations. + +Our distribution of the book is at {\tt +ftp://tug.org/tex/impatient}. You can reach us by email at {\tt +impatient@tug.org}. + +\pagebreak +\byebye |